Device for removing debris from wells



Nov. 7, 1961 w. P. ORR

DEVICE FOR REMovING DEBRIS FROM WELLS oiginal Filed Aug. ,1, 1955 2Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. 5.

INVENTOR.

WILLIS P. ORR,

ATTO N Nov'. 7, 1961 w. P. oRR

DEVICE FOR EEMovING DEBRIS FROM WELLS Original Filed Aug. l, 1955 2Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 4.

INVENTOR. w|| L|s P. oRR,

FIG. 3.

FIG. 2.

ATTO NY.

United States Patent Oiice 3,007,525 Patented Nov. 7, 1961 3,007,525DEVICE FOR REMOVING DEBRIS FROM WELLS Willis P. Orr, Tyler, Tex.,assignor, by mesne assignments, to lIersey Production Research Company,Tulsa,

Okla., a corporation of Delaware Original application Aug. 1, 1955, Ser.No. 525,738, now Patent No. 2,902,095, dated Sept. 1, 1959. Divided andthis `application May 20, 1958, Ser. No. 736,550

4 Claims. (Cl. 166-170) The present invention is directed to apparatusfor removal of debris from Well bores. More particularly, the inventionis directed to apparatus for scraping the interior surface of wellcasing to remove debris therefrom. In its more specific aspects, theinvention is directed to apparatus for scraping the interior of a wellcasing and pushing and confining debris to the bottom of thewell boreprior to running and setting tubing therein.

This application is a division of Serial No. 525,738, tiled August 1,1955, for Willis P. Orr, entitled, Removal of Debris from Well Bores,now U.S. Patent No. 2,902,095.

'I'he present invention may be briefly described as a device for use ina well casing to remove debris and the like therefrom which comprises anelongated tubular mandrel provided with at least one or al plurality ofspaced apart hollow cup-shaped debris removers attached to the mandrel.The debris removers are attached to the mandrel to face unidirectionallyand are provided with lat-eral openings of a suiiicient size for passageof liuid butv of insuicient size for passage of debris. 4

The debris remover may suitably be made destructible -or drillable ormay be collapsed or telescoped on itself by constructing the tubularmember of a destructible metal which may Ibe disintegrated chemicallyVor the tubular member may be formed with yatelescopic section slip jointwhich may be pinned together by avsuitable frangible means such as shearpins, and the like', or by a releasable detaching means. When shear pinsare used, the tubular member may be telescoped by setting down weight onthe debris remover such as by lowering the tubing to rest on the debrisrem-over a sulicient amount to rupture the frangible means. l

The device is adapted for gravitational or forced travel through a wellcasing and may comprise an elongated tubular member suitably constructedof a destructible metal, such as aluminum, magnesium and the like.v 'Iheupper and lower ends of the tubular member are provided with downwardlyfacing open cup-shaped members for receiving and entrapping junk; thelower of the cupshaped members communicates fluidly with the tubularmember and the upper of the cup-shaped members provides an annularrecesswith the exterior surface of the tubular member.

`The method of using the present invention includes the completing of awell having a casing arranged therein in which a debris remover isinserted into the well casing and released for gravitational or forcedtravel through the major portion of the length of the casing to pushdebris ahead of the debris remover and/or toscrape the interior surfaceof the well casing. Thereafter a tubing is run in Vand set in the wellcasing following which the casing is perforated 4by lowering aperforator lthrough the tubing and operating same to'perforate thecasing. After members are employed, the debris remover is telescoped onitself to occupy a space in the well casing less than that ordinarilyoccupied.

The present invention will be further reference to the drawing in which:

' FIG. l is a sectional view of a use in a well casing;

FIG. 2 shows the debris remover of FIG. l on the bottom of a well and atubing run in and set;

FIG. 3 illustrates the destruction of the destructible portion of thedebris remover of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 shows perforating an interval in the well casing following thedestruction of a portion of the debris remover and telescoping onitself; `and FIG. 5 shows ka modified debris remover provided with atelescopic section.

Referring now to the drawing and particularly to FIGS. 1 through 4, inwhich identical numerals will be employed to designate identical parts,numeral 1-1 designates a well bore drilled from the earths surface topenetrate a plurality of hydrocarbon productive intervals having acasing 12 'ar-ranged therein and cemented in place with la primarycement job 113. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a debris remover generallyindicated by the numeral 14 has been caused by gravitational or forcedtravel in the casing 12 to move downwardly in the casing 12 4to thebottom of the well. rIlhis debris remover 14 is comprised of a pluralityof spaced apart cup-shaped members 15 and 16 arranged on 'a nipple ortubular mandrel 17 which suitably may be constructed of a chemically ormechanically destructible metal, such as aluminum or magnesium. Thus,the destructible metal may be dissolved by caustic or acid solution ormay be drilled as may be desired. The cup-shaped member 15 may beattached to the mandrel 17 by mating threads '18 or by other suitablemeans. The cup-shaped member 15 is downwardly facing and provides anannular recess 19 for receiving debris and junk. The lower periphery ofthe cupshaped member 15 may be provided with an annular member 20 whichmay suitably be a resilient material, like rubber, for scraping :alongthe interior surface of the casing 12. The cup-shaped member 15 isprovided with a plurality of longitudinally extending slots or openings21 to allow passage of uid from within the space 19 into the casing 12which will resist passageof debris from the space 19.

l The Ycup-shaped member 16 is similar in construction totjlhe member 15and may -be attached to the tubular member 17 by mating Vthreads 22 orby other means. The cup-shaped member 16 is attached to the lower end ofthel mandrel 17 and lprovides a cup-shaped recess 23 which communicatesfluidly with the tubular mandrel 17 by an opening 24a in plate 24 toretain debris but yet allow passagev of fluid. Suitably the plate 24 maybe completely closed, as directed. Like the cup-shaped member 15, thelower periphery of the member 16 may have an annular member 25constructed of resilient material, such as rubber. Since the cup-shapedmen1bers 15 illustrated by debris remover for and 16 are constructed ofmetal, they are rigid and nondeformable. The cup-shaped member 16 alsois provided with a plurality of longitudinally extending slots oropenings 26 for passage of iiuid from within the space 23 into thecasing 12 but which resists passage of debris. The slots 21 and 26 maybe a plurality of openings of other shapes of suflicient number and sizefor passage of uid but of insufiicient size for passage of smallparticles of debris and junk.

Referring now specifically to FIGS. 2 to 4, lthe debris remover 14 hastravelled gravitationally or has been forced to the bottom of the wellor to a lower portion of the well and thereafter the tubing 30, whichmay be provided with a production packer 31, is run in and set in thecasing 12.

It will be noted that thecasing 12 penetrates a plurality of hydrocarbonproductive intervals, such as A, B, and C from which hydrocarbons orother desirable ffluids may be produced, the productive intervals beingseparated by non-productive intervals, such as D and E.

In FIG. 3, the debris remover 14' is immersed in a body 32 of causticsolution, such las sodium hydroxide, to cause destruction of the tubularmandrel 17 which causes the cup-shaped members 15 and 16 to collapse andassume the telescopic position shown in FIG. 4, the caustic solutionhaving been removed from the casing 12 by opening the packer 31 andinserting aV tubular member in the tubing 30 to reverse circulate outthe body 32 of the caustic solution. The cup-shaped members may also bemade of a material that will disintegrate in caustic, acid, or saltwater solution.

Thereafter a perforator, such as a tubing gun perforator, designated bynumeral 33, provided with a plurality of ibullet or shaped-charge guns34 is lowered on a wire line or cable 36 adjacent the interval C andoperated or tired to form a plurality of perforations 35 through thecasing 12, cement 13 and to penetrate and perforate the formation C.Production is then had through the perforations 35, up through thetubing 30 to the wellhead, not shown.

Referring now to FIG. 5, a debris remover designated generally by thenumeral 40 is provided with la plurality of spaced apart downwardlyfacing cup-shaped members 41 and 42 which are generally of theconstruction of members 15 and 16 and are provided with longitudinallyextending slots or openings 21 and 26, respectively. The spaced apartcupshaped members 41 and 42 are attached releasably to a telescopicmandrel 43 by frangible means, such as shear pins 44 and 45. The mandrel43 may suitably be constructed in sections 46, 47, and 48 which may bereleasably connected together by frangiable means, such as shear pins 49and 50. The device of FIG. is provided with a fishing neck 51 having afishing spear 52 thereon for removal of the remover 40 with a grab tool(not shown) attached to a wire line and the like, also not shown. Theother embodiments may also be provided with retrieving means, asdesired.

By providing cup-shaped members releasably attached to the tubularmandrel and by having the tubular mandrel constructed with a sl-ip jointor with telescopic sections as described, it is possible to collapse thecupshaped members 41 and 42 on themselves by suitably setting downweight on the debris remover 40. This may be accomplished `by dropping aweight in the casing before running in tubing or by setting down weightof the tubing 30 on the device l40 when it reaches a position as shownin FIG. 3.

It lis advantageous to construct the device as shown in FIG. 5 sincethis construction eliminates the necessity for using a caustic sodasolution or other chemical to disintegrate the tubular mandrel and/crtelescope the structure.

The presence of caustic soda solution in the well may be detrimental andrequires removal of same such as by circulating out or hailing sincecaustic soda solution may attack gun perforators or well logging devicesconstructed of aluminum.

The present invention is of considerable value and utility in thatheretofore it was the practice to scrape or clean the interior surfacesof well casing to remove debris yand junk by running in a `debrisremover or scraper attached to the tubing or to other equipment attachedto the tubing. The present invention eliminates a substantial amount ofmanipulating the tubing by inserting into the casing and releasing adebris remover of the type described herein for gravitational travelthrough the casing. By dropping a junk pusher or debris remover in thehole during completion operations before perforating the casing using atubing gun perforator, a round trip with the tubing or drill pipe to thebottom of the hole to insure that the hole is cleaned is saved. If thedebris removed will not drop to bottom, it can be pushed to bottom withthe tubing. rI'he tubing then may be spaced as desired without a pullingjob. This is quite advantageous in that the heavy duty hoistingequipment may be moved olf the hole and used elsewhere earlier thanheretofore. Specifically, in a Texas field the junk pusher or debrisremover, in accordance with the lpresent invention, is dropped into thecasing immediately after pulling the tubing after the stage cementingtool has been drilled out at a designated depth. A tool of this type isdescribed and illustrated on page 2038 of the Composite Catalog of OilField and Pipeline Equipment, 20th edition, 1954-55. The tubing is thenrun with the tubing open-ended, as shown in the drawing, following thejunk pusher to the bottom of the hole, if desired, yand thereafter thetubing is picked up, the well 'head connection, commonly called aChristmas tree, installed and the rig moved olf. A well logging device,such as tubing gamma ray logger, may be run and the casing perforated ata particular selected interval using -a tubing gun. In accordance withthis invention, the hole is cleaned of junk and a trip to the bottomwith the tubing is saved. Thus in accordance with the present invention,it is unnecessary to attach junk and debris removers to tubing stringsfor cleaning and/or scraping the interior surface of well casing.

The present invention is of commercial utility and has been usedsuccessfully on many occasions in cleaning wells of junk and removingdebris from the interior surfaces of the casing which otherwise wouldprove harmful to tools and equipment lowered in the casing.

The debris removers, such as 15 and 16, may suitably be constructed ofcast iron ywhile the tubular mandrel 17 may suitably be constructed ofaluminum. If desired, the members 15 and 16 might also be constructed ofa destructible or drillable metal since it may be desired to deepen thewell subsequently to the described operations.

The present invention insures that the hole is clean, prevents stickingof pipe and/or endangering rubber packers and other equipment. It is,therefore, of utility in cleaning wells.

The nature land objects of the present invention having been completelydescribed `and illustrated, what I wish to claim as new and useful andto secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A device for use in a Well casing .to remove debris and the like fromthe casing which consists of an elongated tubular mandrel and aplurality of vertically spaced-apart hollow cup-shaped rigid debrispushers attached on their base ends to the exterior surface of saidmandrel and providing cup-shaped recesses to retain debris, said debrispushers being open on their free ends and the walls thereof being formedwith lateral openings of suiiicient size for passage of fluid therethrough into the casing but of insufficient size for passage of debris,said debris pushers being each provided with a deformable member on theexterior periphery of their open free ends for scraping along the Wallof the well casing for removal 0f debris from the inner surface of thecasing.

2. A device in accordance with claim 1 in which one of said `debrispushers is attached to one end of said mandrel and forms therewith anannular recess for trapping debris and another of said debris pushers isattached to the other end of said mandrel and a plate attached to saidother end of said mandrel, said plate having an opening communicatinguidly, said another debris pusher with the interior of the mandrel.

3. A device in accordance with claim l lin Which the mandrel is formedinto sections telescopically connected to each other and in whichfrangible means are provided for lreleasably attaching said sections toeach other.

4. A device in accordance with claim 3 in which means are provided forreleasably attaching each of said debris pushers to one of saidsections.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS216,946 Cunningham July 1, 1879 576,425 Bilton et al. Feb. 2, 18971,181,310 Hodgman May 2, 1916 2,150,406 Taylor Mar. 14, 1939 2,221,057Notley Nov. 12, 1940 2,290,441 McGaiey July 21, 1942 2,326,528 Festervanet al. Aug. 10, 1943 2,575,307 Walker Nov. 13, 1951 2,802,535 TaylorAug, 13, 1957 2,893,493 Copas Tuly 7, 1959

